“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...
“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ... “MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...
around Buenos Aires, particularly that Elío might launch an invasion from Montevideo to seize power with the assistance of the Portuguese. Confronted with an institutional crisis and a potential war, the Creoles in Buenos Aires elected to seize power. On 22 May, Creole elites called for a cabildo abierto, essentially a meeting of the vecinos in the capital, to determine how to proceed. 13 During the debates, Creoles asserted the constitutional theory that in the absence of the king, sovereignty reverted to the people. As their designated representatives, the cabildo had the duty to rule locally and ensure the survival of the king’s dominions now that Peninsular government had fallen to the French. The assembled vecinos elected to assume control of the viceregal government and draft a new constitution. Three days later on 25 May 1810, the Buenos Aires cabildo formally deposed Viceroy Cisneros and established a new Creole junta led by the militia commander Cornelio de Saavedra. 14 The Creoles in Buenos Aires had peacefully deposed of the old institutions of colonial authority. They positioned themselves as reluctant leaders of a bloodless revolution. One intended only to carry out the will of the people. Yet while they easily toppled the remnants of the colonial government in Buenos Aires, they still faced the challenge of holding the Río de la Plata Viceroyalty together in its absence. In one of its first acts, the new government circulated letters to provincial capitals throughout the viceroyalty detailing the events of 25 May and requesting allegiance. They called upon the provinces to hold elections and send representatives to establish a new government that would rule the viceroyalty in the king’s name. In the interior, however, porteño appeals to support the new government encountered deep suspicions. The provinces along the old silver trading routes opposed porteño calls for free trade. They feared (correctly) that their inefficient 13 The Portuguese equivalent to the Spanish term “vecino” is vizinho. This dissertation uses the Portuguese phrasing when referring to sources in Portuguese throughout. 14 Rodríguez O., The Independence of Spanish America, 123-25. 38
manufactured products for the Andean highlands would be supplanted by cheaper British imports. Around the mines themselves, memories of the massive Túpac Amaru and Túpac Katari uprisings in the 1780s were still fresh. Any perceived threat to the social order in the highlands alarmed local elites. 15 To shore-up support for the new regime, the Buenos Aires junta launched a military expedition to the highlands. Forces under Juan José Castelli first marched to Córdoba. There, the old Creole military hero Santiago Liniers had organized opposition to the May revolution. Castelli brutally repressed the small group of royalist reactionaries around Liniers and ordered the former viceroy shot. Liniers’ execution heightened fears throughout the interior about the nature of the new regime. As he continued into the highlands towards Potosí, Castelli did little to placate them. In November of 1810, Castelli defeated royalist forces in Upper Peru (Bolivia) and finally occupied Potosí. The porteño general immediately undertook a vicious campaign against local elites. He executed a number of officials in the public square. His army sacked the city and the surrounding countryside, further alienating the local population. Confident, Castelli continued his advance towards Peru. Increasingly overextended, the undisciplined revolutionary army encountered hardened royalist forces under General José Manuel de Goyenench at Hauchi [Hauqui] near the Peruvian border. The royalists shattered the porteño army. The highland population then turned on the porteños, 15 For a detailed discussion of the economic tensions between the colonial interior and Buenos Aires during the initial revolutionary decades and beyond, see María Alejandra Irigoin and Roberto Schmit, ed. La Desintegración de la Economía Colonial: Comercio y Moneda en el Interior del Espacio Colonial (1800-1860) (Buenos Aires: Ed. Biblos, 2003). For a description of the Andean uprisings in the 1780s, see Serulnikov, Subverting Colonial Authority. 39
- Page 1 and 2: “MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDING
- Page 3 and 4: ABSTRACT This dissertation explores
- Page 5 and 6: TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT iii ACKN
- Page 7 and 8: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Like the wandering
- Page 9 and 10: Upon returning to the United States
- Page 11 and 12: INTRODUCTION IN EARLY 1828, A FRENC
- Page 13 and 14: Juan Manuel de Rosas and Facundo Qu
- Page 15 and 16: By moving between stories of law an
- Page 17 and 18: in the continental interior. They d
- Page 19 and 20: the fluid character of borderlands
- Page 21 and 22: and geographic conceptions. Extendi
- Page 23 and 24: local legal norms and practices in
- Page 25 and 26: that has greatly expanded the space
- Page 27 and 28: along rivertine trading corridors.
- Page 29 and 30: strains articulated by men like Art
- Page 31 and 32: Bringing the courts back into the s
- Page 33 and 34: of borderlands leaders to negotiate
- Page 35 and 36: Removing the old colonial order, ho
- Page 37 and 38: the city remained a sparsely popula
- Page 39 and 40: smugglers and other imperial outlaw
- Page 41 and 42: Imperial Collapse and Fragmentation
- Page 43 and 44: ivers, deserts and a few vagrant an
- Page 45 and 46: defend its possessions, peninsular
- Page 47: They requested that the Junta appoi
- Page 51 and 52: The Paraguayan government proposed
- Page 53 and 54: Montevideo in January of 1811, he i
- Page 55 and 56: Ríos. From there, he continued to
- Page 57 and 58: easoning. 25 They had rejected the
- Page 59 and 60: military headquarters along the ban
- Page 61 and 62: sovereignty rooted in borderlands p
- Page 63 and 64: Artigas’ defeat did not spell the
- Page 65 and 66: economy. By 1822, the powerful merc
- Page 67 and 68: universal laws that would further r
- Page 69 and 70: Pedro abdicated the throne in 1831,
- Page 71 and 72: CHAPTER 2 THE (RE)EMERGENCE OF BORD
- Page 73 and 74: operate throughout the borderlands
- Page 75 and 76: and staple exports instead of the o
- Page 77 and 78: Ríos in particular witnessed a dra
- Page 79 and 80: goods as far north as the cities of
- Page 81 and 82: simmering struggles. By 1840, local
- Page 83 and 84: merchants, traders and landowners.
- Page 85 and 86: earning the faction’s colorado ti
- Page 87 and 88: Guarch’s deal with Carvalho revea
- Page 89 and 90: web of reciprocal relationships tha
- Page 91 and 92: the border in Brazil. In this way,
- Page 93 and 94: In short, over the course of a deca
- Page 95 and 96: that he had employed to first arran
- Page 97 and 98: opposite direction from Porto Alegr
manufactured products for the Andean highlands would be supplanted by cheaper British<br />
imports. Around the mines themselves, memories of the massive Túpac Amaru and Túpac<br />
Katari uprisings in the 1780s were still fresh. Any perceived threat to the social order in the<br />
highlands alarmed local elites. 15<br />
To shore-up support for the new regime, the Buenos Aires junta launched a military<br />
expedition to the highlands. Forces under Juan José Castelli first marched to Córdoba.<br />
There, the old Creole military hero Santiago Liniers had organized opposition to the May<br />
revolution. Castelli brutally repressed the small group of royalist reactionaries around Liniers<br />
and ordered the former viceroy shot. Liniers’ execution heightened fears throughout the<br />
interior about the nature of the new regime. As he continued into the highlands towards<br />
Potosí, Castelli did little to placate them. In November of 1810, Castelli defeated royalist<br />
forces in Upper Peru (Bolivia) and finally occupied Potosí. The porteño general immediately<br />
undertook a vicious campaign against local elites. He executed a number of officials in the<br />
public square. His army sacked the city and the surrounding countryside, further alienating<br />
the local population. Confident, Castelli continued his advance towards Peru. Increasingly<br />
overextended, the undisciplined revolutionary army encountered hardened royalist forces<br />
under General José Manuel de Goyenench at Hauchi [Hauqui] near the Peruvian border.<br />
The royalists shattered the porteño army. The highland population then turned on the porteños,<br />
<br />
15 For a detailed discussion of the economic tensions between the colonial interior and<br />
Buenos Aires during the initial revolutionary decades and beyond, see María Alejandra Irigoin<br />
and Roberto Schmit, ed. La Desintegración de la Economía Colonial: Comercio y Moneda en el Interior<br />
del Espacio Colonial (1800-1860) (Buenos Aires: Ed. Biblos, 2003). For a description of the<br />
Andean uprisings in the 1780s, see Serulnikov, Subverting Colonial Authority.<br />
39 <br />
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